Cannes kerfuffle

The chaos caused by 17,000 jolly property professionals upping sticks to Cannes for the annual Mipim shebang is legendary, but this year things went one step further.

One nameless delegate carelessly abandoned their CBRE-branded conference bag in the middle of Nice airport, causing some rather half-hearted attempts at evacuation and a good few hours’ delay. And you thought the striking air traffic controllers were all you had to contend with.

Wowing the spies

The Daily Telegraph was not alone at the Mipim property conference in coming in for flak from deputy prime minister John Prescott.

Architect Terry Farrell, praised in many quarters for his new Home Office building, is not quite so popular with Prescott, it seems.

Referring to Farrell’s MI6 HQ building in London at a press event, the DPM exclaimed: “Is it MI5 or MI6? I saw it and thought ‘crikey, it’s horrible’.” Surely MI6 has the “wow factor” if nothing else.

Rockin’ Rogers

Richard Rogers has a fan in the form of New York architecture website curbed.com. The website is fascinated by plans by Rogers and New York practice SHoP for the east river in Manhattan.

“Few things make us more excited than another image leaking forth from the Richard Rogers/SHoP collaborative undertaking to turn Lower Manhattan’s waterfront into a next-generation playground,” the website notes. The review of the plans ends with the endorsement: “Rogers, baby, we don’t care what everyone says — you be rockin’.” Wow, high praise indeed.

Peer to pier

Still with the East River. The masterplan includes proposals for a rebuilt pier on the east side of Manhattan which will include park space and moorings for boats.

But the proposal looks remarkably like another famous pier. A look at Foreign Office Architects’ Yokohama pier in Japan and the Rogers scheme reveals some similarities. Green space? Check. Curving wood decking? Check. Services for mooring boats beneath the decking? Check. They do say great minds think alike.

Gift of a lifetime

Housebuilders are well known for their generosity, but it seems their giving knows no bounds. According to the House Builders Federation website: “Housebuilders throw a lifetime to first-time buyers.” Jolly nice of them, too.

Dutch courage

Dutch architect Kas Oosterhuis gave a lecture at the Royal College of Art this week and showed his far-out designs. Oosterhuis screened footage of a 9m-tall prototype tower that could bend and flex. He then cut straight to his proposal for Ground Zero, a building that could change shape. The jump from the prototype to Ground Zero was slightly incongruous. Is he suggesting he could design terror-proof buildings that can duck?